Hobby Lobby v. Sebelius: Crafting a Dangerous Precedent

[SecularMotion]

Hobby Lobby, the giant craft retailer known for providing knitting wool, holiday trinkets, fake flowers, and just about any other craft-centric material one could need, balks at providing certain types of medical care for its employees. That is because the company, which has 559 stores across the country and brings in $3 billion in revenue each year, is owned by the Green family—devout Christians who believe that human life begins at conception and that using certain types of birth control violates their religious beliefs.

The Greens, who often have Hobby Lobby buy newspaper ads encouraging people to “know Jesus as Lord and Savior,” also think that their religious beliefs should be imposed on Hobby Lobby’s 22,000 employees. Because of their religious convictions, the Greens have asked a federal court, in a case called Hobby Lobby v. Sebelius, to exempt their for-profit corporation from the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that companies with more than 50 employees offer health plans covering contraception.

In 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that minimum standards for employer health plans would include preventive care for women, including mammograms, cervical-cancer screenings, prenatal care, and contraceptives—all services that are vital to women’s health and well-being. The Obama administration provided an exemption from the contraception-coverage requirement for “religious employers”—churches and nonprofit religious organizations—but not for for-profit, secular corporations such as Hobby Lobby.

Hobby Lobby v. Sebelius is one of 40 lawsuits filed across the country asking federal courts to exempt a for-profit corporation from the Affordable Care Act’s contraception requirement. It is also one part of a coordinated effort led by conservative legal groups to undermine the Affordable Care Act and avoid complying with other laws.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/civil-liberties/report/2013/10/01/76033/hobby-lobby-v-sebelius-crafting-a-dangerous-precedent/

[cbayer]

5. You advocate that people be allowed to carry guns to stop Hobby Lobby from denying

certain health care benefits?

What exactly would that accomplish?

[cyberswede]

9. How does carrying a firearm send such a message?

Does it imply that the person carrying the firearm will use it against the Green family?

I just don't get the leap.

[cbayer]

10. So you want to carry a gun in order to intimidate "stupid Xtians"?

Do I have that right?

[rrneck]

12. I always miss the good ones. nt

[cbayer]

13. He was a real piece of work. Skinner took him out as a repeater.

[hrmjustin]

19. LOL I missed that one as well.

[Arkansas Granny]

2. I don't often shop at Hobby Lobby, but you can bet your sweet bippy

that I won't be spending any money there in the future.

[egold2604]

3. They also do not have and Chanukah decorations because it is anti Christian

[cbayer]

4. Great article - CAP really does their homework.

Hopefully SCOTUS will agree to hear this and rule on it definitively and not permit these for-profit corporations to exercise any kind of exemption.

[madaboutharry]

6. Hobby Lobby refuses to carry

Hanukkah items because it is a holiday that is against their Christian beliefs. But they have tons of stuff for Halloween. What does that tell you?

[Igel]

14. That in many respects they're mainstream Xian.

But in others they're very dogmatic as regards their faith.


It might say something else, but it's mostly just our interpretations at issue, something that's best not to confuse with their actual beliefs. These actions are mute; it's the inferences we draw that speak loudly so to us.

[Mariana]

15. That there's a lot more money to be made

selling Halloween stuff than there is selling Hanukkah stuff. Refusing to sell Hanukkah stuff hardly makes a dent on their bottom line, but Halloween brings in beaucoup bucks and they're not willing to sacrifice that much.

[cbayer]

16. I think that's exactly the right answer.

It's not about ideology at all. It's about their bottom line.

And I think the same is true of their fight to not cover women's health needs.

[SecularMotion]

17. According to this report, it's not money, it's the owner's Christian values

When one of our friends asked where the Chanukah goods were, was told there wouldn't be any, and asked why. According to her, the answer was:

"We don't cater to you people"

Understandably irate, she called the home office, and was told, indifferently, that hobby lobby doesn't have Chanukah on its list of holidays.

Having heard this, and always wanting to be certain of what I write about, I just called the Marlboro hobby lobby and asked whether it would be stocking any Chanukah merchandise. I was told it would not. When I asked why, the answer - verbatim - was:

"Because Mr. Green is the owner of the company, he's a Christian, and those are his values"

http://marlboro-coltsneck.patch.com/groups/opinion/p/hobby-lobby-doesnt-cater-to-our-people

[cbayer]

18. The point is that they are carrying lots of Halloween merchandise.

Some fundamentalist/evangelical groups object to Halloween as a satanic celebration.

But that doesn't seem to bother this company, lol.

[trotsky]

20. And yet if it were just about money, they'd carry every holiday.

Just because you have your own specific preconceived notions about what "fundamentalist/evangelical groups" do, doesn't mean they all have to follow them. Expand your horizons, cbayer, and learn about the variety of believers out there.

[rug]

11. This is the weakest of the lawsuits against the ACA.